After having seen “Shanghai Noon,” the first movie with the Jackie
Chan/Owen Wilson duo, and loving every minute of it, I was excited to
hear of a sequel. While “Shanghai Knights” is entertaining and
side-stitchingly funny at times, I am sad to say that it does not
compare to the first film.

Perhaps it’s the fact that both Chan and Wilson have been in so many
movies lately, with their growing popularity, which makes the movie
feel substandard. Wilson’s usually funny jokes and charismatic demeanor
have lost something with this film. It could be the fact that he always
plays the same character in every movie he’s in, and since I am such a
fan of his dry sense of humor, I have seen all of his films. But this
one was a bit over the top.

As in the first film, there are jokes and references about where
certain famous names and characters come from. For example, a young
orphan boy that they meet later reveals his name to be Charlie Chaplin
and Roy (Wilson) introduces himself as “Sherlock Homes,” which he
steals from writing on a nearby clock when in need a fake name. All
very cute jokes, but a bit ridiculous. Then again, if you don’t like
ridiculous movies, you wouldn’t watch this one anyway.

The movie starts out in the Forbidden City in China, Wang’s (Chan)
hometown, where Lord Rathbone (Aidan Gillen) kills Wang’s father, as
Wang’s sister Lin (Fann Wong) watches in horror, and steals the
Imperial Seal, which belongs to the emperor. There is a great fight
scene between Rathbone’s thugs and Lin. Rathbone, tenth in line to the
British royal throne, ultimately makes a deal with the heir of the
Chinese emperor, which is why he steals the seal.

Wang hears of his fathers death and that his sister has traveled to
London, following Rathbone. He decides to leave his job in Nevada as
sheriff, which he earned in the last movie, and go to New York to find
Roy and get his reward money, also a plot point from the last movie, so
he can go and avenge his father’s death. However, Wang finds that Roy
did not invest the money in bonds as promised, but instead blew it on
drinking and women.

After another bit of fighting to escape the police (which happens
throughout the movie, not necessarily provoked by anything in
particular), Roy offers to accompany Wang to London on his quest,
because they are friends and partners and because it’s supposed to be
“ass soup” in London, according to Roy.

Once in London, they walk the streets and Roy almost gets run over by a
horse and carriage, to which he responds, “You’re driving on the wrong
side of the road…amateurs.” A boy they meet in the street market steals
Roy’s watch and that leads to yet another fight scene, this one by far
the best of the entire movie. Chan uses such props as umbrellas, an
overcoat and lemons as aids against his assailants.

Due to the street market fiasco, the duo are taken to jail and later
released, but only after they find out that Wang’s sister is currently
jailed there as well, for attempting to murder Rathbone.

Rathbone then throws a party for all of the upper-class citizens and
royalty in London. Wong and Roy disguise themselves as “Sherlock Homes”
and “Maharaja of the province of Nevada.” There they find Rathbone with
the Imperial seal. Mean while the boy that they met in the market has
followed them and swipes the object, so now Wang and Roy must find the
boy.

But first they must go stay at a brothel. No Chan/Wilson movie is
complete without a stay at a brothel. However, this time Roy refrains
from fooling around with the ladies because he’s now in love with Lin.

The following day Wang and Roy go out in search of the boy to get back
the seal. They find him in a wax museum and finally head off to save
the Royal family from total slaughter and thus are the basic premise of
the film.

The costumes and sets and of course the fact that much of the movie is
filmed in London make for great eye candy. The music is also
particularly beautiful for a silly comedic movie, creating a soundtrack
I might even consider buying on CD.

When it comes to Jackie Chan movies, no one can deny that the best part
is the bloopers at the end of the film. I was hoping that an extended
version of bloopers would be included on the DVD, but there are no more
than accompany the theatrical release. The Special Features on the disc
are entertaining but definitely not a reason to buy the DVD.

If you have a love for comedy and action, then this is a great movie
for you. You can never go wrong with Jackie Chan’s shy yet hilarious
demeanor, unless of course it involves Jennifer Love Hewitt. Overall,
I’m glad to have this DVD in my collection and probably will pull it
out watch it from time to time.